Honorary Members

Nominations

Any OSA member may nominate someone to the status of Honorary Membership by sending a brief, 1 page, advocacy statement discussing the candidate to awards@osa.org or mail to:

OSA Awards Office
2010 Massachusetts Ave., NW,
Washington, DC, USA 20036

Nomination Deadline: 1 May

The most distinguished of all OSA Member categories, Honorary Membership is awarded to individuals who have made unique, seminal contributions to the field of optics.

The roster of living Honorary Members demonstrates the high stature of this designation: Milton Chang, Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Elsa M. Garmire, Joseph W. Goodman, John L. Hall, Theodor W. Hänsch, Stephen E. Harris, Robert W. Hellwarth, Nick Holonyak, Donald B. Keck, Herwig Kogelnik, John C. Mather, William D. Phillips, David J. Wineland and Amnon Yariv.

Honorary Members are elected by unanimous vote of the OSA Board of Directors upon nomination by the OSA Presidential Advisory Committee and unanimous endorsement by the OSA Awards Council. The number of living Honorary Members cannot exceed two-thousandths (2/1000) of the total membership of the Society.

Honorary Members receive a complimentary OSA lifetime membership and other special recognitions of their distinguished status, including complimentary OSA meeting registrations and member subscriptions to all OSA journals of their choice.

2020

Milton M T Chang

For his visionary and inspirational leadership in building companies and fostering entrepreneurship in photonics, and his generous, ongoing support of OSA.

2019

Elsa M. Garmire

For contributions to nonlinear optics and optoelectronics, leadership in linking science and public policy, and for service to OSA.

2018

Joseph W. Goodman

For fundamental contributions in the fields of Fourier Optics and Optical Information Processing through his research, teaching and classic textbooks.

2017

Amnon Yariv

for pioneering scientific and engineering contributions to photonics and quantum electronics that have profoundly impacted lightwave communications and the field of optics as a whole.

2017

David J. Wineland

for pioneering advances in laser cooling of ions together with unprecedented control of individual ions in foundational experiments of quantum optics and quantum information.

2016

John C. Mather

For measuring, with his COBE team, the cosmic background radiation and its anisotropy with amazing precision from 50 to 600 GHz. The temperature of the Big Bang radiation was determined as 2.725 +/‐ 0.001K. According to the Nobel committee the COBE project can be regarded as the starting point of cosmology as a precision science.

2015

Nick Holonyak, Jr.

For fundamental, inventive and widely influential contributions to optics and photonics including the visible LED and the quantum well diode laser, technologies underlying solid-state lighting, the internet, and high performance computing.

2014

Robert W. Hellwarth

For pioneering introduction of Q-switches to lasers and profoundly influential contributions to the science of nonlinear optics, including stimulated light scattering, origins of nonlinear refractive index, photorefractivity and phase conjugation.

2013

Stephen E Harris

For pioneering and profoundly influential contributions to the science of light, including optical parametric emission, lasing without inversion, electromagnetically induced transparency, and single cycle optical pulse generation.

2012

Donald B Keck

For breakthrough contributions to the field of optical communications, including the invention of the first low-loss optical fiber, and for a history of service to OSA.

2011

Jarus W. Quinn *

For his exceptional leadership of the OSA as its Executive Director from 1969 through 1994 and the profound influence that he has had on making the society the success that it is today.

2010

James Gordon *

For his numerous high-impact, seminal contributions to quantum electronics and photonics, including the first demonstration of the maser.

2009

Arthur Ashkin *

for his pioneering work on optical trapping and the development of optical tweezers

2008

Roy J. Glauber *

For pioneering work on quantum optics and coherent states.

2008

Theodor W Haensch

For pioneering work on laser spectroscopy and optical combs.

2007

John L Hall

For pioneering work on high-precision laser metrology and fundamental optical tests of physical principles.

2005

Herwig Kogelnik

For achievements in several areas of optics and photonics, contributions to lightwave communications by directing industrial research and for leadership in the scientific community.

2004

William D. Phillips

For development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.

2003

Steven Chu

For development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.

2002

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji

For outstanding leadership in quantum optics, from initial studies of optical pumping, through seminal work on sub-Doppler limit laser cooling.

2001

Aleksandr Mikhailovish Prokhorov *

for his distinguished contributions and monumental role over the past 45 years in creating and developing quantum electronics

2000

Willis E. Lamb *

In recognition of his fundamental and pioneering contributions to laser physics.

1993

James G. Baker *

In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics.

1992

George Wald *

In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics.

1987

Emil Wolf *

In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics.

1986

Andre Marechal *

In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics.

1984

Rudolf Kingslake *

In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics.

1984

Nicolaas Bloembergen *

For unique, unparalleled contributions to the field of optics

1983

Arthur L. Schawlow *

In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics.

1981

John Donovan Strong *

For pioneering work in aluminization of telescope mirrors, development of grating engines, infrared instrumentation and spectroscopy, and atmospheric and planetary physics using balloon-borne equipment.

1980